Football Over Racing? Briatore This Weekend, Missed His First Grand Prix for Six Seasons

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AFP - Briatore not attending the Chinese GP - Set to miss first race in six seasons
Renault Team Principal Flavio Briatore is missing his first Formula One race in at least six seasons this weekend after being unable to reach Shanghai in time for Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix.
Briatore flew back to Europe with Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone following last Sunday's Japan Grand Prix in Fuji for business meetings and was scheduled to return with Ecclestone to the Far East.
But a Renault spokeswoman confirmed that Briatore and Ecclestone had been forced to change their plans because of other meetings and would not be attending the race.
Briatore is believed not to have missed a race since Renault returned to F1 as a works manufacturer in 2002. Formula 1 News

Reuters - Briatore absent from Chinese Grand Prix
SHANGHAI, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Renault team boss Flavio Briatore will miss Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix, the first time the Italian will be absent from a Formula One race in years, a spokeswoman said on Saturday.
Briatore, who has attended every race since 2000, had returned to Europe with Bernie Ecclestone on the Formula One supremo's private plane after last weekend's Japanese Grand Prix, she added.
Both had intended to fly back to Shanghai after business meetings but Ecclestone decided to remain in Europe, prompting Briatore to make a similar decision and leave the team in the hands of engineering head Pat Symonds and senior technical figures...
Reuters